BULLITT: Bullitt really knows his bullsh*t!

This may not be uncommon for a guy like me to say this, but I have a guilty pleasure for cop films. I have always pictured myself as being the macho cop that takes no bull from anyone and just goes about doing the job in as cool a manner as possible. Thus, films like The French Connection and Dirty Harry has always been near the top of my list of films. However, I had heard a lot about Bullitt being a good cop film. All I had really heard about was the famous car chase scene and that was it. I always tried to look out for it, but never did find it. Until now, that is.

Set in San Francisco, Lieutenant Frank Bullitt (Steve McQueen) has been assigned a job by Walter Chalmers (Robert Vaughan), an aspiring senator, to protect an informant of the Organisation, who has been chased by them from Chicago right the way through to San Francisco. Bullitt, along with his co-workers Delgetti (Don Gordon) and Stanton (Carl Reindel), are assigned to ensure that the informant is protected for the next 48 hours, so that he can testify the crimes he has witnessed in the past. However, this goes terribly wrong when Stanton, along with the informant, are found and shot by Mafia men. Chalmers immediately accuses Bullitt for causing this mess-up. Ross is merely interested that the informant survives and tries to shut down Bullitt's investigation into the attack. However, against Chalmers' wishes, Bullitt will not stop until he finds out who was responsible for shooting down Stanton and the informant.

The character of Bullitt essentially represents someone who is willing to stand up against what society expects of him. This message of "standing up for what you believe in" and the idea of going against the establishment had a lot of social importance in 1968, which was when the film was made. Bullitt is uncompromising in this belief that he ought to do what he thinks is right rather than what society thinks is right. The film also shows the dark nature of politics during the period as well. The character of Chalmers is willing to resort to any sort of act to ensure that he becomes more popular as a politician. The Organisation represent the Mafia and having the informant testify against them would increase Chalmers' popularity as a politician. What he is doing may not necessarily be ethical in any sense, but any politician is willing to get a break into politics by any means possible. This was, and very well still is, the way politics works in the world today.

This film will probably be remembered for being the first mainstream film to use the word "bullsh*t". Unlike the way the word is used now, when the word was used in this film, it really had meaning. When Bullitt says this to Chalmers near the end of the film, this basically represents what Bullitt thinks of the establishment. This is testament to the very realistic screenplay written by Alan Trustman and Harry Kleiner based on the novel Mute Witness by Robert L. Fish. The dialogue throughout the film may not be all that flashy, but what is said in the film is authentic. Using real doctors and nurses for the roles as doctors and nurses helped, as did using real policemen. These are the type of people who know what really goes on in these professions and thus, they know what it is they need to say. This passed onto the actors of the film, which allows the film to be as natural as it can possibly be. Not only that, the unassuming San Francisco background is a perfect setting for the film.

As for the characters, I found the character of Bullitt to be quite an interesting character. You can easily dismiss him for being quite a dull character, but you realize that he is quite a mysterious person. Mysterious in the sense that his girlfriend Cathy (Jacqueline Bisset) has no idea that Bullitt's work is as depressing and traumatic as it actually is. Cathy is the joy in his life, the one thing that actually puts a smile on his face. We never see Bullitt smile in the film except when he is with Cathy. Also, the audience immediately identify how level-headed he is compared to everyone else. While everyone else is panicking or thinking that he is crazy for what he does throughout the film, Bullitt merely flicks all the criticism away and just goes around doing his job. Chalmers is an intriguing character as well, in the sense that he is just as dark and seedy a character as a lot of criminals are. He is willing to do anything to screw Bullitt or his boss, Captain Sam Bennett (Simon Oakland), over. As for the other characters, we do not learn as much about them. But this is merely trivial. This film essentially looks closer into these two main characters, since one represents the protagonist of the film and the other represents the antagonist.

One aspect of the film that I liked, and that the Academy liked enough to give an award for this aspect of the film in 1968, is the editing. This is tight throughout the film, particularly during the famous car chase scene through the streets of San Francisco. The constant cutting throughout various thrilling scenes like this one just add more excitement to the film. It intercuts quickly to represent how the tension keeps mounting in these scenes. The beginning is also edited really, really well. The camera is also used well throughout the film. The shots of San Francisco are really catchy and you are immediately drawn into the film through these shots. I also felt that the jazzy musical score from Lalo Schifrin is a perfect compliment to what takes place in the film. I like how the music is used to build up tension in certain scenes in this film.

As for the acting, this film is a fine example of realism. Steve McQueen does not act as Bullitt. You feel that he is Bullitt. McQueen is absolutely convincing as a cop. He actually did do his own stunts in the film and did the driving throughout the famous car chase scene. This just shows how dedicated McQueen was in portraying as realistic a character as possible. He does just this. Robert Vaughan is also brilliant as Chalmers. You immediately despise him for being the type of character he is and I would say that he could easily pass off as a politician with his role in this film. Jacqueline Bisset is also pretty good as Cathy. She portrays her as an innocent character. She loves Bullitt's mysterious aura, even though she does not seem to know him all that well. As for the rest of the acting performances in this film, they are all pretty damn convincing, even Robert Duvall's short but memorable turn as a taxi driver in this film (Duvall is always convincing in his roles).

I have to say that director Peter Yates does run a very tight ship here. He does an excellent job with the film. Given all that he has, he tries to give us a real look into this case and what goes on behind-the-scenes of these cases. He paces this film rather quickly and to me, it did not feel as if the film was 113 minutes. The film builds itself up very well and one can easily feel the tension build up throughout the film whether it is Chalmers and Bullitt facing each other in the same room or Bullitt finding another detail of the shooting. Overall, this film was very well directed by Yates.

I think it is easy for me to say that Bullitt really is the classic that people claim it to be. It may be dated, but I honestly believe that if you are one of those people who enjoy a good cop film with many, many thrilling chase scenes and like edge-of-your-seat build-ups, then this film is for you. This, however, is not for kids, since it does contain a bit of violence in it.

As for the DVD features, there are quite a few here. Of course there are the subtitles and theatrical trailer, but there is also a documentary called "Steve McQueen's Commitment to Reality". This is an in-depth look into how McQueen prepared for his role and how director Peter Yates aimed to create as realistic a film as possible from, like I said earlier, choosing professionals, rather than actors, to play some of the roles in the film and by using McQueen himself in the car chase scene. Also, there are also profiles of the main actors of the film, as well as Peter Yates and the screenwriters Alan Trustman and Harry Kleiner.

Thanks for reading the review.